In “Buy American, Hire American”—From Rhetoric to Regulation, our colleagues Glenn Sweatt, Nancy Fischer, Steve Becker and Matthew Rabinowitz discuss what may be on the horizon for among others, U.S. Government contracts, under the Buy American Act, and other similar protectionist regulations. These laws and regulations require U.S. Government contractors to exclusively use, or give a preference to, U.S. suppliers. Recent statements and Presidential Memorandum from the Trump Administration provide a hint that changes in regulations, exemptions and enforcement may be on the horizon, which will certainly impact U.S. Government construction contracts.
UK Government White Paper Sets Out Principles and Objectives For Exiting the EU
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In White Paper Sets Out UK Government’s Brexit Strategy, Pillsbury partners Tim Wright and Sam Pearse discuss the United Kingdom Government’s recent publication of a White Paper titled The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union that sets out its Principles and Objectives for exiting the EU. Though the White Paper is silent on construction industry generally, even this sector will likely be impacted in a number of ways including through controls on migrant workers as well as new customs arrangements and tariffs – assuming a hard Brexit. Public Procurement laws in the UK are also likely to change; environmental and health and safety laws may also change once the UK leaves the EU.
What to expect in the UK in the company year from recent employment law developments
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In Review of UK Employment Law: Key Issues to Monitor in 2017, Pillsbury attorneys discusses a number of
developments in 2016 that will have a significant impact on United Kingdom employment law and looks at what employers in the UK may expect in the coming year.
Photo: Moyan Brenn, UK umbrella in London, Piccadilly Circus, Taken Oct. 12, 2014 – Creative Commons
UK Parliamentary Joint Committee Investigating Ability To Protect Against Human Rights Abuses
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Today, Pillsbury partner Tim Wright published his client alert encouraging retailers to be vigilant in preventing human rights abuses in their supply chains whilst complying with their legal obligations. Tim’s alert is in response to the UK’s Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights investigating human rights and businesses to determine whether retailers can ensure that human rights abuses do not occur in their supply chains and is particularly concerned about the use of child labour. Although the joint select committee heard from witnesses from the fashion industry, their work does have a wider remit. The Alert is titled Human Rights and Global Supply Chains.
8th Circuit: A Spill or Release of Natural Gas Condensate Can Be Subject to an Insurance Policy’s Pollution Exclusion
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On January 31, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that, under the terms of a commercial general liability insurance policy, natural gas condensate, a valuable commercial product, once released, is a pollutant that triggers the policy’s “pollutant exclusion.” The case is Hiland Partners GP Holdings, LLC, et al., v. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA. The Eighth Circuit confirmed that the District Court did not err by concluding that National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA (National Union) did not have a duty to defend or indemnify Hiland Partners GP Holdings, LLC, Hiland Partners, LP, and Hiland Operating, LLC (collectively, Hiland) because the allegations in B&B Heavy Haul, LLC’s (B&B) employee Lenny Chapman’s complaint fell within the policy’s pollution exclusion and the exception to the exclusion did not apply because Hiland failed to offer evidence that it reported the pollution to National Union within 21 days of discovering it.
IN’s Vapor Pens and E-Liquid Act Violates the Commerce Clause Because of Its Extraterritorial Reach
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On January 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the extraterritorial effects of Indiana’s Vapor Pens and E-Liquid Act, Ind. Code §§ 7.1-7-1-1 et seq., violated the dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. In 2015 the State of Indiana en-acted the Act “to regulate the manufacture and distribution of vapor pens and the liquids used in so-called e-cigarettes.”). The Seventh Circuit reasoned:
Congress Initiates Rollbacks of Regulations Promulgated Under Obama Administration
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Today, my colleague Sheila McCafferty Harvey and I published our client alert discussing the House Rules Committee meetings this week during which the committee discussed resolutions for
overturning regulations passed under the Obama Administration. The roll-back efforts could include key energy and environmental regulations, including the Bureau of Land Management’s new methane restrictions related to the oil and
gas industry, the Security and Exchange Commission’s requirement for reporting payments to foreign governments, the Department of Interior’s Stream Protection Rule requiring coal companies to restore mining lands back to their original state, and the Department of Energy’s efficiency requirements, among others. Congress may seek to overturn hundreds of agency rules recently promulgated under the Obama Administration. These efforts are being given a high priority. The Alert is titled Congress Begins Congressional Review Act Rollbacks of Energy & Environmental Regulations This Week.
“The old order changeth, yielding place to new,” Executive Orders and Memorandums Directing Environmental and Regulatory Policy
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New directions in environmental and regulatory policy are outlined in these Executive Orders and Presidential 
Memorandums that have been issued in the past few days:
- An Executive Order, dated January 30, 2017, requiring federal executive departments and agencies, whenever they propose to add a new regulation, to delete two existing regulations (Presidential Executive Order on Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs);
- A Memorandum dated January 24, 2017, directing the Secretary of Commerce to develop a plan by which, to the extent possible, all new pipelines or the retrofitting of older pipelines, shall, to the maximum extent, be constructed with pipeline components that are “produced in the United States”, and the Secretary shall provide this plan to the President in 180 days (Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of American Pipelines)
- A Memorandum dated January 24, 2017, ordering the relevant government agencies, in particular the Army Corps of Engineers, to expedite the provision of all the authority needed to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline (Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline);
- A Memorandum dated January 24, 2017, inviting the owners and operators of the Keystone XL Pipeline to reapply for all necessary permits needed to construct the pipeline and the Secretary of State shall issue a final permitting decision in 60 days (Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline);
- A Memorandum dated January 24, 2017 directed to the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies to support the expansion of domestic manufacturing by streamlining the permitting process and reducing regulatory burdens (Presidential Memorandum Streamlining Permitting and Reducing Regulatory Burdens for Domestic Manufacturing); and
- A Memorandum dated January 24, 2017 instructs departments and agencies, with respect to regulations that have been published in the Federal Register but that have not taken effect, as permitted by applicable law, to A) temporarily postpone their effective date for 60 days for the purpose of reviewing questions of fact, law, and policy they raise, B) where appropriate, to consider proposing for notice and comment a rule to delay the effective date for regulations beyond that 60 day period, and C) in cases where the effective date has been delayed in order to review questions of fact, law, or policy, departments and agencies are to consider potentially proposing further notice-and-comment rulemaking (Memorandum: Implementation of Regulatory Freeze). Exclude from these actions are any regulations “subject to statutory or judicial deadlines.”
The Secretary of Commerce will take the lead in conducting “outreach” to stakeholders concerning the impact of federal regulations and how to streamline the process.
Quote in Title: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Photo: Dave Newman, Presidential Seal, Taken January 11, 2011 – Creative Commons
NRC Considering Revisions to Security and Accountability Regulations That Could Be Costly To Industry Participants
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Today, my colleague Jay Silberg and I published our client alert discussing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) decision to consider revisions to applicable security and accountability
regulations in response to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) sting operation which identified certain regulatory weaknesses. If adopted, these revisions could significantly affect the ability to efficiently use and transfer certain radioactive sources and increase the cost of doing so. Our alert is titled Potential Revisions to NRC Regulations Could Significantly Affect the Oil & Gas Industry.
Photo: Blake Burkhart, Radioactive (Taken Sep. 7, 2011) – Creative Commons
To Practice “Environmentalism” Is Not A “Religious” Right
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Something light for your Monday morning. On January 23, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma issued a ruling dismissing the plaintiff’s pro se complaint that the recycling practices of the Tulsa City-County Library Commission placed an “undue obstacle” on the plaintiff’s practice of “Environmentalism.” The case is Krause v. Tulsa City-County Library Commission. Plaintiff alleged that the Tulsa City-County Library Commission’s placement of “fake” recycling bins in the downtown Central Library mounted to a hindrance to his faith, and warrants the protections of the First Amendment because the exercise of his “secular and political choices,” being rooted in environmental advocacy, constitutes a religion. The District Court noted that the complaint contains no factual support for the plaintiff’s conclusory assertion that Environmentalism is religious, and not a secular practice or lifestyle. The District Court also notes that this claim is a matter of first impression in the Tenth Circuit, but that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, in the case of McDavid v. Cty. of Sacramento, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 43711, at *7-8 (E.D. Cal. June 26, 2006), addressed an analogous claim, and held that veganism is not a religion:
All courts recognize some distinction between a religious belief and a non-religious lifestyle decision; courts will protect the former, but not the latter.
The complaint suffered from other defects, requiring its dismissal.